Valencia Stars: Free Agent Signings #1

[leejay56]

The Stars had a horrible hitting team last season so the focus was picking up a few players who can hit this season. One player who will make the roster who wasn't a free agent is rookie Frank Mahaffey. Mahaffey
was the number 2 pick in the 2029 in that draft. Last year in AAA ball he started slow but ended up with a .270 batting average and smacked 28 homers and drove in 96. The 22 year old Mahaffey will get the start and hopefully develop into a power hitter over the next few season. Mahaffey has nothing to prove at the AAA level and the Stars want to see what he can do this season.

In the Rule 5 draft the Stars picked up 22 year old outfielder Juan Ramos. Ramos last year in AA ball he hit a solid .328 22 homers. He looks to be a DH and play very little LF. At 22 he does have some upside at the DH roll and possibly be a .270 20 homerun player one day.

Free Agent outfielder Manuel Freyta gives the Stars a excellent defensive player who has tremendous speed. Freyta in 200 AB last season did hit .265 with a .350 OBP and stole 33 bases. The Stars are very high on Freyta as he can give the Stars a player the has Defense, Speed, good eye and a decent batting average.

The last pickup was outfielder Héctor Valentín who is a very good offensive player. Valentín signed a two year deal and at 30 years old the Stars feel he still has more left. Valentín
is a career .332 hitter and its possible if he stays healthy he could get 200 hits this season. Valentín will start as the Stars DH
get the Stars offensive starting again.

The Stars still might look to add another player so it may not be over yet. Hopefully the Stars will do better than 59 games...

[jiminyhopkins]

Been waiting to see Mahaffey for a long time. Hope he can fill out those ratings in the next couple years and truly be a masher.

[Rubaboo]

Ramos is a decent player for a free pickup but he's going to have to hit very well to make up for the black hole he'll be in LF. (Assuming Valentin will be in the DH spot.)

[udlb58]

Ramos is a decent PH, but that bat isn't enough to make up for that glove every day

[7teen]

The name Mahaffey always takes me back to my first go around in online baseball leagues.

The old GBC. I joined up late into Fred Mahaffey's historic run.

[leejay56]

chris, I remember Fred Mahaffey he was a great hitter back then... Hopefully Fred can develop into the same type of hitter...

[7teen]

chris, I remember Fred Mahaffey he was a great hitter back then... Hopefully Fred can develop into the same type of hitter...

I still remember getting a buddy of mine to join the league. I think he was owning Carolina at the time. Mahaffey was towards the end of his career and my free agent strategy for my buddy was to go all in on Mahaffey and try to trade him after a while and get whatever prospects he could get for a rebuild.

The budget and money structure was significantly different under FPS than this new fangled OOTP! haha

And suddenly I miss Eric Ramon!

[leejay56]

Isn't Eric still playing in the GBC league???

[jiminyhopkins]

Isn't Eric still playing in the GBC league???

Unfortunately the GBC is long dead.... There have been a couple of aborted attempts to restart it but with no success. I still keep up with Ramon on facebook tho.

The budget and money structure was significantly different under FPS than this new fangled OOTP! haha

Yeah remember when the salary cap would increase by 10% every June so people could take on more money in trades? Good times.

[7teen]

Isn't Eric still playing in the GBC league???

Unfortunately the GBC is long dead.... There have been a couple of aborted attempts to restart it but with no success. I still keep up with Ramon on facebook tho.

The budget and money structure was significantly different under FPS than this new fangled OOTP! haha

Yeah remember when the salary cap would increase by 10% every June so people could take on more money in trades? Good times.

I recall in one of the OOTP leagues Recte ran we got Ramon to join for a very brief stint. I don't think he ever grew to enjoy the "advancements" in OOTP.

And yes I remember the jump in cap. Also the auction style free agent periods with different pools of players. Retirement fees for guys who retired before their contracts were up.